Zhang Xuemei didn't intend to argue with her. She just glanced outside and said, "Sister, I saw someone enter your shop. Aren't you going to check on them?"

Upon hearing that someone had come to the shop, Zhao Fenglai stopped talking, turned around and left immediately, prioritizing making money.

"Sister-in-law, why is she like this? This is only our first day, and she's already saying discouraging things. Isn't she deliberately cursing us?" Xu Mingwan frowned and looked outside. No one else was as idle as her; she was the only one who talked too much.

"Alright, competitors are enemies. We'll just sell what we sell. Is everything cleaned up? Let's go home for lunch and come back this afternoon. Dad should be home by now."

While they were talking about Old Man Xu, Xu Minghan had already brought him home.

When Granny Liu saw her husband arrive, she didn't even have time to complain. She first poured him a cup of hot water, saying, "Drink some water first. Lunch will be ready soon. What are you doing here? Don't you need to take care of things at home?"

Old Xu slammed his water glass on the table, his face stern, and said in a gruff voice, "If I hadn't come, I would have been all alone. Look at you all, living in such nice houses while I'm left to live alone in this stone house. How can you live with that?"

As soon as he entered the house, he looked around. Although it was all bare cement, it looked better than the house in his hometown. Thinking about how he was still living in a drafty house while they were living a life of luxury in the city, he felt terrible. Why didn't they think about him, the poor old man?

Xu Minghan had closed his noodle stall all day to pick up his father, and hearing his father's aggrieved tone, he immediately said, "Why don't you stay here, Dad, instead of going back?"

"Nonsense! How can I stay here? What will happen to the crops in the fields? You're all talk and no action." Old Xu didn't want to stay in the city; he wanted to take his wife back with him.

"How much are your crops worth? It's fine if you don't plant them. Let my second and third uncles plant them, and you'll have an easier time." Xu Mingjiang shrugged. Anyway, his father was getting old, and they were making money. Wasn't it good for them to enjoy their retirement?

Old Xu immediately jumped up, took off his shoes and started hitting Xu Mingjiang with them, shouting as he hit him, "I'll teach you to look down on farmers! I'll teach you to look down on farmers! What you eat and wear is all earned by me, one hoe at a time! I'll beat you to death!"

"Ouch, Dad, I didn't say I looked down on you! Stop hitting me!" Xu Mingjiang shouted as he dodged his father's beatings. He was truly wronged. When had he ever looked down on farmers? He had only casually told the father not to farm. How could they have misinterpreted it?

After seeing her youngest son get hit a few times, Granny Liu stopped the old man and comforted him, saying, "Alright, alright, you haven't even said anything yet, why are you so angry?"

"You've made a little money and now you look down on farming? If it weren't for us farmers, you would all starve to death." Old Xu was still not satisfied. He felt that farmers had made the greatest contribution in the world and no one should look down on them.

“Dad, Xiao Jiang didn’t mean anything by it, he just didn’t want you to work too hard,” Xu Minghan explained, helping his younger brother.

Old Xu raised his eyelids and asked in return, "If you know I work hard, then why haven't I ever seen him give me any filial piety? I haven't seen him give me a single grain of rice all year round."

Xu Mingjiang: "..." So all those clothes he bought for him every year and the red envelopes he gave him were just air? He was so angry that he immediately turned his head away, not wanting to see this old man who was lying through his teeth.

“Look at you, look at you, you’re getting angry after just a few words,” Old Xu said again when he saw his youngest son turn his back to him.

Granny Liu couldn't help but slap him, "That's enough, all you do is bully Xiao Jiang."

"And you're blaming me! If you hadn't stayed away from home, would I have come here to find you? Would I have bullied Xiao Jiang?" Old Xu had his own logic; he felt that all of this was caused by his wife not coming home.

"Didn't I tell you I had something to do? Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Didn't you say Xue Mei fell and hurt her foot? Why haven't I seen her? She's fallen and still running around. Are you lying to me?" Old Xu stood up and looked through every room but couldn't find his third daughter-in-law. He began to suspect that his wife was just making up a lie to avoid going home.

"No, it's a long story..."

"Mom, we're back. Is Dad here? Where is he?" Before Granny Xu could finish speaking, Xu Mingwan opened the door and came in, followed by Zhang Xuemei, who was able-bodied.

The atmosphere instantly became a little awkward. Everyone stared at each other, and no one dared to speak first.

Old Xu looked at Zhang Xuemei's feet, then at her face, and after confirming it was the same person, he burst into tears, "I knew you were lying to me, I didn't want to..."

"Stop, stop, Dad, listen to me..." Zhang Xuemei immediately reached out her hand, trying to explain to him.

"I won't listen, I just won't listen! You've all conspired to deceive me! Do you think I'm getting senile? I might as well just go! Oh God, why won't you take me? Open your eyes and look!"

As Xu Hongshan was talking, he sat down on the ground, slapped his thigh, and howled in a drawn-out tone.

Zhang Xuemei immediately took out ten yuan from her pocket and handed it over, saying, "Here you go, Dad. Here's some money. Listen to me."

Xu Hongshan paused in his howling, then swiftly snatched the money offered to him, continuing to shout, "Who do you think you are? You think you can get away with just ten yuan? My life is so bitter, it's worse than being soaked in bitter melon water..."

Okay, I got it. You think it's not enough?

Helpless, Zhang Xuemei took out another hundred-yuan bill from her pocket, handed it over, waved it in front of him, and asked, "Dad, can you listen to me now?"

"Alright, go ahead and say it, I'm listening." Xu Hongshan glanced at the hundred-yuan bill, grabbed the money immediately, stood up, wiped away imaginary tears from his face, plopped down in a chair, and muttered under his breath, "Wouldn't it have been better if I had done this earlier? What a waste of my energy."

Zhang Xuemei felt that if she hadn't already gotten used to her father-in-law's behavior, she would definitely have started arguing today. He really got the benefit but was still acting innocent!

Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke, "Because Xiaowan and I found a small business that's quite profitable, we thought we'd let Mom work a few more days. You see, you've misunderstood."

"Really? How much? Let me see?" As soon as the topic of making money came up, Old Xu perked up and immediately sat up straight, looking at Zhang Xuemei intently.

Zhang Xuemei was speechless for a moment, unsure whether to speak or not.

Seeing her daughter-in-law's predicament, Granny Liu chimed in, "Of course they're making money! In just the few days I've been here, the two of them have earned over two thousand. Don't you think I should help look after the kids for a while?"

"Of course, of course, you should have said so earlier, I wouldn't be angry now." When Old Xu heard that he had earned more than two thousand in a week, his hands started to tremble. Sure enough, money in the city is easy to pick up, oh no, easy to earn.